Many businesses are providing access to their products and services through computer networks. The Java 2 Enterprise Edition Specification v1.3, published on Jul. 27, 2001 (the J2EE Standard) defines an increasingly popular architecture for the server-side of enterprise computer networks. As these computer networks become more complex, there is an increased need for improved administration, monitoring, and management of enterprise computer networks.
An emerging standard, JSR-000003 Java Management eXtensions (JMX), version 1.2 (hereinafter, the JMX Specification), provides a standardized way to manage arbitrary Java resources in enterprise computer networks. The JMX Specification describes a management architecture, an Application Program Interface (API), and a number of services for Java enabled applications. Together, these elements provide a standardized way to manage arbitrary Java resources.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of selected elements of the management architecture defined by the JMX Specification. The JMX management architecture primarily consists of instrumentation level 110 and agent level 120. Instrumentation level 110 includes Java management beans (or simply, MBeans) 112 and 114. An MBean is a Java object that represents a manageable resource, such as an application, a service, a component, or a device. An MBean provides a management interface that consists of attributes and operations that are exposed for management purposes. The term “attribute” refers to a value (or characteristic) of an object. The term “operation” refers to a process that an object performs.
Agent level 120 includes MBean server 124. MBean server 124 provides a registry for MBeans 112 and 114 and also an interface between registered MBeans and distributed services level 130. Management applications (e.g., in distributed services level 130) may access services provided by MBean server 124 to manipulate MBeans 112 and 114. The services provided by MBean server 124 may be defined by the JMX Specification and may include a monitoring service, a timer service, and a relation service for registered MBeans. Non-java objects may also register with MBean server 124 if they have a Java wrapper. The term “Java wrapper” refers to data that proceeds or frames a non-Java resource so that the non-Java resource can interface with a Java resource.
Distributed services level 130 provides an interface between management applications (not shown) and MBean server 124. Management applications may connect to MBean server 124 through a variety of means including connector 132 and protocol adaptor 134. Connector 132 may provide an interface to management applications that complies with the JMX Specification or it may provide an interface for proprietary management applications. Protocol adaptor 134 translates operations between MBean server 124 and well-known protocols such as, Request For Comments (RFC) 2617 entitled, “HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) Authentication: Basic and Digest Access Authentication,” June 1999 (Hereinafter, the HTTP Protocol). The JMX Specification, however, does not provide a mechanism to change attributes and/or execute operations on MBeans with a graphical user interface.